Ghosts
by LAMFan
Summary: As Gus and Harley try to deal with the ramifications of Marina's accusation and Phillip's demands, returning family members are pulled into the crossfire.
1. Part One

_Ghosts_ - Part One  
Author: LAMFan  
Rating: PG  
Summary: Spauldings and Coopers and Bauers, oh my!

* * *

The smell of mouthballs and sanitizing fluid hit Gus Aitoro like a brick as he entered his old hotel room and threw his bags carelessly on the bed. Harley stepped in behind him and flicked on the light, illuminating the cramped box Gus had been living in from the time he came to Springfield until he had moved in with her. _That lasted a long time_, Gus commented to himself sarcastically as Harley closed the door.

"You didn't have to do this, you know," Harley said, slipping the strap of a duffle bag off of her shoulder and lowering the bag slowly onto the floor near the doorway. "Phillip's a jerk, but he's bound to realize sooner or later that he was wrong about you. Don't let him win..."

Gus sighed and pulled a cigarette out of his pocket, slipping it just past his parched, cracked lips. "And if he doesn't realize he's wrong? What if later rather than sooner is _too_ late?" he asked, the cigarette barely clinging to his mouth. "I don't want you to lose your son because of me. You've lost enough people in your life, Coop, I'm not going to let you lose Zach if there's something that I can do about it."

Gus folded his arms in front of his chest and leaned against the dilapidated dresser by the window. Harley pressed her knee into the uncomfortably firm mattress of the bed, shaking her head. "If _Phillip_ doesn't realize he's wrong, a judge will. Everyone in the world knows he's wrong except for his father, and even Phillip has to admit that having Alan behind you usually isn't a good sign."

"I don't want it to come down to a judge, Harley. Enough has gone on without some ridiculous custody battle..."

"The only thing ridiculous about this whole thing is Phillip. Even Beth isn't sure what he's doing is right... Either of her personalities."

"Look, even so, I know you want to show your family and everyone else that you believe in me, but you're going to do it at your own expense. And Zach's. Phillip dragging you into court won't be fun for the kid. Come on, let me just do this. At least until things settle down. You can tell just by looking at that guy and his tense, square jaw that he's a control freak. I'm surprised he hasn't threatened to sue for custody of Jude, too, while his girlfriend Rick is laid up in the hospital."

Harley crossed the room and wrapped her arms around Gus's neck. "I think I deserve to be happy."

"You do."

"And you make me happy... _Living_ with you would make me happy. Happier than I've been in a long time."

"And how happy would you be if Zach couldn't be with you?"

Gus removed Harley's arms gently and walked to the bed, his back turned to her. Her smile faded. "That's not going to happen. I can have the both of you. And Jude."

"You're so sure of that. What if you _can't_ have it both ways? We don't _need_ to be around each other twentyfour-seven. But what the two of us know better than most people is that a child needs his parents. _Both_ of them." Gus opened one of the garbage bags he was using as a suitcase and began to remove his belongings, tossing them onto the bed. "It's not like we're going to stop seeing each other completely. I'll be back at work soon, and we can still be together outside of the station. Phillip just wants me out of your house, so I won't stay at your house. It's that simple."

As Harley parted her lips to reply, a small electronic ring emanated from her purse. She pulled out her cell phone and flipped it open. "Cooper," she answered. Gus stopped what he was doing and looked up, listening, his back still to Harley. "...I'll be right there," she finished with a sigh.

"Another Cooper family crisis?" Gus asked.

"No. Thankfully, it's a work-related crisis this time...You'll meet at Company later for dinner?"

"Yep." Gus walked Harley to the door, where she kissed him passionately before leaving. Gus watched her for a moment, then closed the door.

Returning to the pile of belongings on his bed, Gus grabbed one of the bags roughly and began fishing through it. After a few seconds of searching, he pulled out the item he had been looking for: the battered copy of his juvenile record that Harley had given to him. Gus studied it for a moment, turning it from one side to the other. He walked to the trash can and motioned his hands to crumple the item, but found that he didn't have it in him. Frustrated, he threw it onto the nightstand and rubbed his face with his hands, falling back onto the bed.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

A woman approached Company slowly, looking into the window with curiosity. Inside, the faces were equally as unfamiliar as the set-up. Pulling the sliding strap of her purse back onto her leather-clad shoulder, she glanced at the porch in front of her: even _that_ was not as she had remembered it. The sign she was sure was new or, judging by the wear, had at least been added since she had last visited the restaurant, but the rest... As she considered which was the better option between having a faulty memory or coming home to something changed so completely, another figure moved behind her in the fading light.

"Boy," a graying Alan-Michael Spaulding commented to his wife as he wrapped his arms around her, "this place looks so different."

Lucy turned to Alan-Michael and leaned her arms against his chest as he held her at the waist. "No kidding," she replied. "If I didn't know any better, I would think we were at the wrong place." She turned back to face the window, pulling Alan-Michael's arms around her more tightly, and just watched the people inside. "Have we been away _that_ long?"

Alan-Michael raised an eyebrow as he pressed the side of his head against Lucy's, following her line of vision. "Well, it's been a while," he said, brushing her hair behind her ear to plant a soft kiss at her left temple. "We're home" he sighed. Lucy looked at Alan-Michael apprehensively in response before exhaling and taking him by the hands, leading him inside.


	2. Part Two

**_Ghosts_ - Part Two**  
**Author:** LAMFan  
**Rating:** PG-13

* * *

Alan-Michael sat across from Lucy in the corner booth at Company, watching in wonder as she took another oversized bite out of her cheeseburger. As she chewed, or attempted to do so given the large portion she'd taken in, Lucy looked up at her husband. "What?" she asked through the meat that was being held back by her clenched teeth. Sense Field's _Here Right Here_ hummed softly out of the speakers of the compact stereo system up front.

"Nothing," replied Alan-Michael as he leaned his forearms into the table. "It's just that we've known each other for going on nine years, we've been together -- this time around -- for just about seven, and we've been married for a little more than six. Yet day after day, I'm still amazed by the way you eat."

Deliberately, Lucy bit down hard one last time before swallowing her food as she shot Alan-Michael a prolonged look of slight aggravation. "Keep it up," she cautioned.

Alan-Michael ignored the warning and grinned at her, knowing that he'd probably enjoy the punishment if he managed to push his luck too far. "So, who do you want to see first?"

"Well I was hoping to see my father, but it doesn't look like he's around tonight."

"Maybe he's with Holly?" Alan-Michael offered.

"Maybe. You know, you would think a man with two young boys might be home with them at this time of night, but not _my_ dad." Lucy fumed. "No, he sent his kids off to school in another country.... I'm sorry, I meant on another _continent_."

"You've just been _itching_ to give Buzz hell, haven't you?"

Lucy sucked half a glass of cola through her straw before responding. "He dumped Coop and Rocky with strangers! It's bad enough that _they_ don't know these people, but Buzz doesn't, either. I mean, they're not even _real_ relatives of Jenna's. And in the past two years, the two of _us_ have seen those boys more than he has!"

"He was devastated when he lost Jenna, and then Selena left...." Alan-Michael could sympathize: He knew what it was to have someone walk out on him, and even trying to imagine his grief should something ever happen to Lucy was too much for him to bare. That was a possibility he nearly enough had to face more than once in his life already.

"That's not an excuse," insisted Lucy. "It's been four years since Jenna died and he's been avoiding having to take responsibility for his sons ever since. If Dad thinks he had it rough losing Jenna, what does he think it feels like for Rocky and Coop to have more or less lost both of their parents in one fell swoop? Come on, you know the absentee parent thing. And so do I. That's how I know it hurts."

Alan-Michael threw up his hands in concession. "When I talked to Michelle the other day she said that Rick was up at the cabin with Mel, but I'd still like to swing by the house tonight. I know things have been hard on Michelle, and I'd like to see how Uncle Ed's been doing, too."

"Rick's at the cabin?"

"Yup. Michelle said he was willing to chance it just to get away for a little while."

Lucy raised an eyebrow. "We used to enjoy ourselves at that cabin, didn't we?"

"Yeah," Alan-Michael smirked. "And considering the condition Rick's heart is in, if he and Mel are 'enjoying themselves' the way we did up there, it just might kill him."

"Every single one of those activities is supposed to be good for the heart...."

Alan-Michael felt Lucy playfully position her foot in his lap and he jumped suddenly, slamming his legs beneath the table. "Lucy!" he yelped involuntarily.

"What?"

"This is your father's place of business."

"It's as good a place as any...."

Alan-Michael coughed on a small laugh that got caught on its way out. He cleared his throat and glanced from table to table, a few random diners who had turned their attention to the couple in curiousity now returning to what they had been doing before his minor outburst. "I'll be right back," he said as he stood and kissed the top of Lucy's head. "If I can find where they put the restrooms." He looked down at himself for a moment, deciding to strategically place an abandoned copy of _The Springfield Journal_ in front of him as he walked.

As Alan-Michael disappeared through a doorway on the opposite side of the restaurant, Gus walked in and haulted at the end of the bar where he removed a cigarette from his pack and shoved it into his mouth without the intention of lighting it. He was slipping the pack into the breast pocket of his jacket when he noticed a familiar face approach the bar. "Lucy?" he asked.

Lucy turned and looked at Gus. The expression of mild confusion on her face soon gave way to one of recognition and amusement as she matched the man in front of her with a decade-old picture retreived from somewhere in the recesses of her mind. "Nick," she stated with a hint of uncertainty lacing her voice. "What are you doing in Springfield?"

Gus hesitated. He hadn't been Nick in so long that he now found it strange to be called by that name. "Yeah, I live here," he explained. "...And I kind of go by Gus now." Lucy looked at Gus and laughed, realizing from small town experience as well as his appearance that she was talking to the man Buzz had been ranting about over the phone for months on end. "What about you?" he asked.

"My father owns the place," Lucy said casually, enjoying his momentary cluelessness.

"Your fa-- ?" Gus took hold of the cigarette hanging from his lips and removed it slowly when the connection became clear to him. "_Cooper_!" he cried. "Lucy _Cooper_."

"That's me. There's a 'Spaulding' tacked onto to it now, though."

"_Spaulding_," Gus nodded.

"You know, the guys in that castle up on the hill?"

"Yeah, I think I've met one or two of them...."

"Gus, huh?... The infamous _Aitoro_, I presume?"

"And that's me."

"Figures."

"Gus!" a dampened Harley said as she stepped inside from the rain that had just begun to fall lightly. "You're early for once." She paused when she noticed her sister. "Lucy, I didn't know you were coming." She moved closer and pulled Lucy into a quick hug.

"It was a last minute decision," stated Lucy. "Alan-Michael's around here somewhere."

"Gus, this is my sister Lucy. Lucy..." Harley started.

"We've met already," Lucy chimed in. "Although that was when he was still just little ol' Nicky."

Harley turned to Gus and he smiled back uncomfortably. An attempt to speak on her part for the second time that evening was interrupted by the ringing of her phone. "One minute," she said. Pulling the phone from her purse she sighed and walked to an area where she would be able to hear the person on the other end.

Just then Alan-Michael reappeared. "They sure did renovate the hell out of this place," he called to Lucy. Finding that she was engaged in something with a man unfamiliar to him, he added, "_You_ know how to make friends quickly. Who's this?"

Harley returned before Lucy could answer Alan-Michael's question, having wrapped up her call. Gus looked at her expectantly. "Nothing important," she told him.

"Hey." Alan-Michael looked from his ex-wife back to the stranger before him. "I take it that you two know each other?"

"Gus," Harley gestured, "I'd like you to meet Alan-Michael Spaulding."

"Ah," commented Gus in forced enthusiasm. "Ex-Husband Number One. Or was he Number Two?"

"Alan-Michael," Harley continued, "Gus Aitoro. Or, as Lucy knows him, Nick Augustino."

Alan-Michael's smile dropped from sight and, accompanied by a clap of thunder that sounded from somewhere in the distance outside, he looked at Lucy questioningly.


End file.
